In a World of Half-A**ed Celebrity Podcasts, Kim Kardashian’s ‘The System’ is Not One of Them
It may seem like, “Every time a bell rings, a celebrity gets a podcast,” but this time, it’s different.
Monday, Kim Kardashian suddenly premiered her first podcast, The System. It is a Spotify exclusive show that aims to serve as the audio compendium to Kardashian’s work helping those wrongly convicted.
In a conversation last month with Interview Magazine, Kardashian revealed in passing that she was recording this new podcast for Spotify, but had not announced a release date.
Her initial contract with Spotify was signed in 2020 and as we’ve seen with other celebrities, it often takes years before they make good on the deal.
Take Meghan Markle for example. Although she signed an exclusive deal with Spotify in December 2020, her first podcast under the contract, Archetypes, did not premiere until August 2022.
The Obamas signed an exclusive contract with Spotify for original podcasts but only produced fewer than a dozen episodes each before they cut ties with the company and jumped ship to Amazon in search of less restrictive obligations.
The release of The System came as a surprise Monday morning when two episodes suddenly appeared on the Spotify landing page. Kardashian herself didn’t even post about the release until later Monday afternoon — a move oddly out of character for one of the biggest business moguls in the world.
Perhaps it was because earlier that morning, the internet was flooded with news that Kardashian would owe the SEC a fine of $1.26 million dollars for advertising for a crypto investment and not disclosing she had been paid to do so.
The timing is surely strange but if you’re tuning in for Kardashian’s new podcast to be a flop, like so many others, you might have to look somewhere else.
The show details the story of Kevin Keith, who was charged and sentenced to death row for a 1994 triple homicide in Ohio.
Kardashian learned about Keith’s story following an appearance on Celebrity Family Feud, when one of the show’s producers approached her about the subject.
Keith and his family have long sustained claims of innocence and now Kardashian has stepped into the picture to help tell his story.
With eight episodes set to air about the case, the first two releases have been surprisingly captivating.
In a world where every celebrity podcast sounds the same, it’s evident that Kardashian and her team studied the medium and made an effort to craft an interesting audial story.
It’s been a theme as of late, for everyone to jump into the world of podcasting and hope their audience will follow. The System touches upon the classic nuances of true crime storytelling through one of the world’s most popular socialites and it’s sure to transcend the Kardashian fandom.
The show is co-executive produced by Kardashian and Lori Rothschild Ansaldi, a prominent producer for Investigation Discovery and TLC.
The focus and craftsmanship of audio is still something podcast listeners appreciate and unfortunately with market saturation, it’s often hard to come by. The sound design and editing of The System is a testament that interesting true crime shows can still be made.
While most celebrities’ premiere podcasts that are lackluster and feature nothing more than them reminiscing about a reality show that has long been cancelled, Kardashian plots the course for a new wave of conscious celebrity, using her voice to shed light on important stories and topics.
Listen via The System.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
